UCLA's Alfred Aboya, left, and Jrue Holiday wear big smiles near the end the Bruins' 97-63 victory over Stanford on Saturday at Pauley Pavillion. Aboya, Holiday and Darren Collison had 15 points each. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES - Darren Collison poked the ball away from a Stanford player and dove toward the UCLA bench. He slid to a stop a couple of feet short of a folding chair and a headache.

Alfred Aboya kept rampaging around the court in search of rebounds and loose balls.

Jrue Holiday hounded Stanford leading scorer Anthony Goods exactly as he had done to Cal leading scorer Patrick Christopher two days earlier.

It wasn't so much that UCLA found its game in back-to-back blowouts over the Bay Area schools this week. After Saturday's 97-63 laugher over Stanford, the Bruins talked about rediscovering their heart.

"Guys were just tired of losing," Collison said.

Apparently it began in practice Monday, following two losses in the previous three games. Coach Ben Howland said the new attitude started with the team's three seniors, Collison, Aboya and Josh Shipp.

"Everybody was diving on the floor for loose balls, hustling," Aboya said. "I think going forward, we have to do that in practice every single day."

If they do, the 17th-ranked Bruins might find themselves back on track for the late tournament run their fans have grown to expect. Before this week, the team's youth and reliance on jump shots made that path seem unlikely.

Howland is beginning to trust the five freshmen. The result has been depth that can wear down opponents. Stanford was shooting 69 percent through the first 11 minutes, then shot 28 percent in the second half.

Aboya, Collison and Holiday each scored 15 points Saturday. The 97 points were the most for UCLA in a Pac-10 game under Howland. UCLA (17-4, 7-2 Pac-10) made 74 percent of its shots in the second half.

Fast breaks usually begin with defensive stops and turnovers. According to the Bruins, better defense has been the root of all the alley-oops and layups in the past two games.

"To be honest there's no magic trick to what we've been doing these last two games," Collison said. "We just raised our intensity on the defensive end."

Stanford couldn't even muster a passing interest in playing defense. The Cardinal (13-6, 3-6) had lost one-point heartbreakers in three of its previous four losses, including Thursday at USC.

The Cardinal just seemed broken Saturday.

"It's no secret," said Goods, who scored 15 points but had only two shots in the first half. "We've just got to dig down and show more pride on the defensive end."

Howland has gotten his defense-first message through to the Bruins, who in both of this week's games had pull-away runs at the start of the second half. Saturday they staged a 21-1 run to send a portion of the 11,129 fans home early.

At least they were around for the halftime presentation, when UCLA honored its 1964 national championship team. Coach John Wooden, 98, remarked from his wheelchair how proud he was of the "young men," from that team.

UCLA players nearly 50 years younger seem to be figuring it out.

The five Bruins freshmen — touted as the best class in the nation — no longer look like a liability.

Drew Gordon, Jerime Anderson, Malcolm Lee and even seldom-used center J'Mison Morgan have been showing signs of growth. Holiday, who had six rebounds, five assists and just one turnover, remains at the head of the class.

"I think we're going to continue to improve — that's the good news — because of our youth," Howland said.

It sounds as if the freshmen made an attitude adjustment, too. Holiday said the youngsters learned to play hard every second on the court, aware that Howland wouldn't leave them out there if they didn't.

"Before, I don't think people really saw it that way. People were asking why they got subbed out," Holiday said. "We really didn't have that intensity and tenacity on defense. Now we really understand it."

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